The meteoric rise of coaching salaries becomes more and more relevant each year.
Back in 2009, during Lane Kiffin's brief tenure as the head coach at Tennessee, Vols defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin broke the ceiling as college football's first million dollar assistant with a $1.2 million deal. That contract is widely believed to have been the one to pave the way for other high earning coordinators like Chad Morris (Clemson), Cam Cameron (LSU), and Kirby Smart (Alabama).
By 2015, there were nine assistant coaches in college football making over $1 million per year, and by 2018 that number exploded to at least 21.
LSU made Dave Aranda one of the game's first $2 million coordinators, and Clemson followed suit with Brent Venables not long after while Michigan became the first program in college football to have a trio of $1 million coaches in Don Brown, Tim Drevno and Pep Hamilton.
On the other side of the spectrum, and far less celebrated, are coaches who break into the industry as volunteers, or making next-to-nothing.
About the same time Monte Kiffin was becoming the first million dollar assistant in Knoxville, I was boarding an Amtrak train from Holland, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois to pursue my dream of coaching college football at the Division III level with just a duffel bag and suitcase in tow and determined to find a way to make it work on a $1,000 per month stipend in one of the most expensive cities to live in the country.
Talk to coaches about their humble beginnings in the profession and many of them will share similar starts to their journey, as either volunteers or making a small stipend while working another job to make ends meet. Many consider it a right of passage in a lot of ways, weeding out the people who enter coaching for the wrong reasons and exposing egos in the process.
A week or so ago, an FCS program posted an opportunity on The Scoop to get a foot in the door with a volunteer off-field role. To me, it seemed like a very common - even reasonable - request, but there was a contingent of coaches on X who saw it very differently and attacked the school for not offering a paying role, or at least sweeting the pot by including meals with the position.
In a related note, back in January, a federal district court in California granted preliminary approval to the NCAA's $303 million settlement of a lawsuit by former Division I volunteer coaches in NCAA sports other than baseball (because those coaches already had a separate lawsuit with the NCAA), who were not paid under a since-repealed NCAA rule that had been in place for 31-years.
Yesterday, the class action settlement in that Ray v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit regarding former Division I volunteer coaches compensation received final approval.
The settlement details include the $303 million to be paid in three separate installments of $101 million into a common fund over the course of two years. The amounts paid to members of the suit will be "determined by the school, sport, and year in which" they worked where an assigned expert on the case will "calculate a Recognized Loss for each six-month period coached by a Class Member...based on the wages paid to the team's lowest-paid coach during that period who was not designated as a 'Volunteer Coach,' and then incorporate a 'stepdown' to account for the fact that the class member coaching position were lower on the hierarchy."
The settlement ensures about 8,000 current and former coaches at the Division I level will be compensated for unpaid wages, and the official notice states that the minumum payment before fees and costs is $5,000 for each class member who files a valid claim.
To receive a payment, class members must submit a claim form online or by mail no later than June 2, 2026.
We've reached out to those involved to see what this means for volunteer coaching posts in the future, so stay tuned. See a full release on the settlement provided to FootballScoop below.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for all the latest.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12th, 2026
CONTACT
Ryan Litner – ryan@rebuttalpr.com
JUDGE GRANTS FINAL APPROVAL TO $303 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR NCAA "VOLUNTEER" COACHES
Eligible Division I coaches have until June 2, 2026, to submit a claim for significant compensation, with some awards expected to reach six figures.
SACRAMENTO, CA – Judge William B. Shubb today granted final approval to a $303 million settlement resolving Ray et al. v. NCAA, a wage-fixing class action brought on behalf of Division I volunteer coaches against the NCAA. The settlement covers the thousands of coaches who worked for NCAA Division I sports programs (other than baseball) in the position of “volunteer coach” between March 17, 2019, and June 30, 2023.
"We are pleased the Court granted final approval of this landmark settlement, which provides substantial compensation to thousands of NCAA coaches who trained athletes and helped build programs without pay," said co-lead counsel Dennis Stewart of Gustafson Gluek PLLC, Michael Lieberman of Fairmark Partners LLP, and Bob Gralewski of Kirby McInerney LLP. "With the June 2 deadline approaching, we urge every eligible coach to submit a claim and collect the money they earned and deserve to receive."
Class members have until June 2, 2026, to submit a claim. Class counsel has estimated that the average settlement amount will be about $40,000, with many volunteer coaches receiving more than $100,000, depending on their school, sport, and number of years coached. Class members who do not file by June 2 may not be eligible to receive compensation from the settlement.
Eligible coaches can file a claim by visiting ncaavolunteercoachlawsuit.com. There is no fee to file a claim or to seek help from the claims administrator or class counsel.
The Volunteer Coach Rule, which was repealed in 2023, prevented an entire category of coaches from receiving salaries or benefits. A parallel action pertaining only to Division I baseball coaches, Smart v. NCAA, reached a settlement in September 2025.
Class representatives Shannon Ray, Khala Taylor, Peter Robinson, Katherine Sebbane, and Rudolph Barajas “urge all class members to file a claim before June 2 to secure the compensation they rightfully earned through their service to their programs.”
Complete information about the settlement, including the claimant helpline number, is available at ncaavolunteercoachlawsuit.com.
The $303 million class action settlement in the Ray v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit over "volunteer" coach compensation restrictions has received final approval. https://t.co/0DYEpNLOvu
— Sam C. Ehrlich (@samcehrlich) May 12, 2026